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Thursday, May 17, 2012

Here is a short list of some of the Free Kindle books right now. Remember to check the price before you click to buy...prices change frequently. If you read any of these, let me know what you thought of them. I have gotten most of these and plan to read them soon.

(Click on the photo to be taken to Amazon.)

Darwood & Smitty and the Multi-World AgendaSteve McCardell

The Drought

Lily White

The Power of Less: The Fine Art of Limiting Yourself to the Essential...in Business and in Life

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

As you may have seen from reading my blog lately, we have been doing quite a bit of outside projects. I thought I would share my Outside Ideas pin board with you.

Also, I have been seeing the penny floors all over Pinterest. I have pinned quite a few ideas onto my Penny board. I really love the old dresser with the pennies on the front of the drawers. I am currently trying to decide on a project to do for our home.

Thursday, May 10, 2012

I love having sippy cups that don't spill. What I hate is the small crevasses that they come with. One day I happen to have a plastic paint brush from a kit that the kids had near the sink. So, I wondered to myself if it would get into the tiny spaces and help get the cups clean....and it did! I have been doing this for a while now. Just get the lid nice and soapy and use the brush to scrub around in those tiny places, then rinse.

Saturday, May 5, 2012

We have a few solar lights from the front yard that have seen better days. The solar part still worked fine so we didn't want to throw them away. Of course, I have seen the pins on Pinterest using lights and mason jars. So, I figured why not make some mason jar lanterns.

The lids of the solar lights were too big so we pretty much cut everything away except for the solar panel, LED light, and backup battery part. We also cut a hole into the mason jar lid. Then, we stuffed the solar panel & battery part (with a battery inside) into the lid of the jar. The solar panel didn't sit flush with the jar lid, so to keep it in place I took black electrical tape and put it around the top and sides of the lid..making sure not to cover the solar panels.

Then, to be able to carry it or hang on a hook, I did a search and came across this tutorial for adding the wire to it. Very helpful.

My all time favorite homemade facial mask is one that includes only two ingredients: milk & Gerber Oatmeal baby cereal. Yes, baby cereal...and milk. I had leftover oatmeal cereal when Memphis was smaller & figured why not! Lots of facial products have oatmeal in them to soothe skin. It felt really good after being out in the sun.

So, how do you make this oatmeal mask? 1.) Just pour about 1/2 cup of cereal into a bowl.2.) Add just enough milk to make a paste. Not to runny, not too thick. 3.) Use your fingers to apply to your face and neck. Rub in a circular motion & spread it around.4.) Let sit for about 15 minutes or until dry. 6.) Rinse off with warm water.7.) Splash face a few times with cold water. This closes the pores. Then, pat dry.

I use this about 1-2 times per week depending on my makeup usage. Meaning, if I'm home most days & not wearing any makeup, I wait longer between applications.

I have tried using the rice cereal but, it just didn't leave my skin feeling as nice as the oatmeal did.

Thursday, May 3, 2012

I have been doing a lot of paper shredding lately and was wondering what all I could do with it, rather than just toss it....We don't have a curbside pick-up for recycling. We have to take it to the town across the river. So, of course I did a Google search and came up with DIY Firestarters. There are lots of different ways to make them. Here is how I made mine:

I started by placing the shredded newspaper into a plastic lid (I believe it went to a disposable lasagna pan). Then, I set it aside to work on melting the wax.

For the wax, I melted pieces I had leftover in the bottoms of old candles. Here you can see that I placed the wax into an old coffee can and put it into a big pot of water. I had to put the vise grips on top to hold the can down. You can also see the wooden skewer I used to stir the wax as it melted. Be careful when melting, I didn't go any higher than the simmer setting on my stove. It took about 15 minutes to melt. (I did two batches, and the 2nd took only about 10 minutes.)

Finally starting to melt!

When the wax had completely melted, I used a potholder and carefully poured the wax over the shredded newspaper. Make sure to saturate it well. As you can see, I also grabbed some dryer lint, which I rolled into a ball and then poured the wax over it. Now, all you have to do is let it cool and harden. I figure I will just take it out of the plastic lid and use a large knife to cut it into chunks then store it for when we use our firepit out back. The candles were scented so the whole thing smells like berries. Thinking they should give off a nice aroma to the fire.

Have you ever made any firestarters? If so, what method did you use and how did they perform?

Looking through Amazon, I found a few free Kindle books to share with you. Organic Gardener's CompostingNever BuriedSpying in High Heels

And because I love vampire (& ghost) novels, here are a couple I found that are also free.Blood Bound: The Beginning (short story)Soul Mate (Book 1) I just got all three of these and will be reading them soon. If you get them, let me know how you liked them!